New Chessboxing season starts in London

2/27/2010 – Top of the bill is a thrilling heavyweight encounter between Sergio “The Phoenix” Leveque from Italy and Dutchman, Hubert Van Melick. Chessboxing entails alternating sessions of four minutes at the chessboard and two in the boxing ring. You can win by checkmate or knockout. In two weeks the new season begins, with the first fights in London. Press release and videos.

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The
New Chessboxing Season Starts in London!

Saturday, March 13th 2009

Leveque makes his chessboxing debut, marking the final step in his recovery
from a horrendous motorbike accident in 2005 when doctors doubted he would ever
walk again. Leveque has proved them wrong, regaining fitness and climbing back
in the ring three times in Italy during 2009 before rising to the chessboxing
challenge. Leveque plays in the Italian A league chess team and is a candidate
master level player.

Van Melick makes his third chessboxing appearance following two wins against
Mexico’s Hector Gomez in October 2009 and Welshman Bob Innes in December
2009. Van Melick’s chessboxing career kicked off in earnest after losing
his job at a top merchant bank during the financial crisis. Now instead of trading
shares he trades punches and material on the chessboard, aiming for a shot at
the European title currently held by Italy’s Gianluca Sirci.

On the undercard we have a superb middleweight clash featuring “The Man
From Pamplona” Daniel Lizarraga matched against Berliner, Sebastian Baursefeld.
Lizarraga narrowly defeated Baursefeld’s training mate Sascha Wandkowsky
in December 2009 and is looking for a second straight victory at the Boston
Dome.

The first bout of the night will be an amateur encounter between two chessboxing
enthusiasts, TV producer Rob Gillies and journalist Johnny Higginson, political
editor of London’s Metro newspaper. Both men have had just ten weeks to
prepare for the bout which is being staged to raise money for the charity The
Railway Children.

This is the first of five UK chessboxing events due to take place in London
this year, produced by the Great Britain Chessboxing Organisation in conjunction
with The Wolrd Chessboxing Organisation. Future dates in 2010 will be May 8th,
July 3rd, September 11th and December 4th.

Commentary by International Chess Master Malcom Pein

An introduction to Chessboxing

Last week we visited the inventor of Chessboxing Iepe Rubingh in Berlin. Present
was also the German composer, singer and actress Vaile,
who is an avid chess player.

Vaile challenged Iepe to a game of chess, in front of the giant Chessboxing
poster

She plays a game of chess every day – and takes it very seriously

In summer this astonishing young lady spends two months in the forests of
Sweden, alone with two horses. Vaile has written a book on the subject. It will
be out as a top title in the Knaur Verlag this fall.

Iepe, who is the better chess player, gives Vaile some pointers. In the
boxing round
that followed – no, wait, there was no round of boxing between the two...

Previous reports on chess and boxing

Swedish ChessBoxing Sensation in London28.06.2009 – London hasn’t been this crazy
about a Swede since the heady days of Bjorn Borg at Wimbledon. This
was undoubtedly the best chessboxing night yet seen in the UK; there was
a superlative headline bout between two of the world's leading chessboxers,
controversy involving an illegal move, the flamboyant Red Kite, and an
England vs Germany match. Pictorial
report with annotated games.

Chessboxing Triumph in London19.11.2008 – This hybrid sport, with four-minute
sessions of chess interspersed with three minutes of boxing, is the brainchild
of Dutch event artist Iepe Rubingh. The match ends in checkmate or knockout.
Chessboxing is fast becoming a world-wide phenomenon, overtaking chess
in the number of spectators it can attract. The latest match took place
in London. Pictorial
report.

Reb Fountain's Chess Boxing single03.10.2008 – It sounds unlikely: a Kiwi singer
who makes "soul music that is real and heartfelt and pure and connects
with people because it sounds good and feels great," has been inspired
in her new album by – chess boxing. "It is quite beautiful, people boxing
and then coming to the chessboard bleeding profusely. I like the idea
of that." Video
report.

Chessboxing in London’s East End12.09.2008 – The UK’s first chessboxing extravaganza
kicked off on a sultry summer’s night on 15 August in the East End of
London. Famous for Jack the Ripper, Pearly Kings and Queens, and 1960’s
gangsters, the area is now the hub of a vibrant night scene. Rajko Vujatovic
gives his inside account as chess arbiter on the night, whilst Tim Woolgar
offers a unique first hand report of his debut
chessboxing bout.

The Russians are coming – in chessboxing09.07.2008 – Having enjoyed recent success
in soccer, basketball and ice hockey, Russia is now also able to boast
a world champion in the little-known sport of chessboxing. Russia's Nikolai
Sazhin, a 19-year-old mathematics student from the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk,
defeated light heavyweight defending champion Frank Stoldt, a 37-year-old
policeman from Germany, to lift the world
chess boxing title.

Chessboxing World Championship 2008 in Berlin03.07.2008 – In October there is one between
Anand and Kramnik in Bonn. But that will be peaceful compared
to the World Championship that is scheduled in Berlin this weekend. There
four minutes of chess are interspersed with three minutes of violent pugilistic
activities. We bring you photos and videos – and we also found out what
FIDE President Kirsan
Ilyumzhinov thinks about this sport.

American fighter takes on German champ in Chessboxing14.10.2007 – David “Double D” Depto and “Anti
Terror” Frank Stoldt will meet for the World Championship in Chessboxing.
Six rounds of speed chess and five rounds of boxing will take place alternatingly.
In a maximum of eleven rounds, the decision will come either through K.O.
or check mate. The match takes place on November 3rd 2007 in Berlin, Germany.
Press
announcement.

Vladimir Kramnik: World Championship Chess (and boxing)12.07.2007 – After winning the Dortmund Super-GM
Vladimir Kramnik travelled to Hamburg to produce his first DVD in the
ChessBase Media System, recording over six hours of video material that
traces his path to the top of the chess world. After finishing he rushed
to Cologne to support his chess playing friend Vladimir Klitschko, who
was defending his world championship title in boxing. Pictorial
report.

Chess playing boxer Klitschko retains heavyweight title12.03.2007 – Vladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian
IBF heavyweight world boxing champion with a PhD in sports science and
an avid interest in chess. On Saturday he fought American challenger Ray
Austin and dropped him with a flurry of left hooks 87 seconds into the
second round. Next people hope to see a unification fight against WBC
champion Nikolai Valuev. Watch
Saturday's fight.

The kick boxing women's chess champion13.12.2006 – The winner of the Ukrainian Women's
Championship 2006 was not one of the very strong top seeds, but WGM Oksana
Vozovic, a law student who is also a kick boxer and karate champion. Oksana,
who won the women's chess title on tiebreak points, is still trying to
decide which area of expertise she will pursue professionally. Illustrated
report by GM Mikhail Golubev.

Chessboxing on ESPN, Playboy and Maxim27.06.2006 – This unusual sport, in which two
competitors face each other in 11 alternating rounds, six of chess, five
of boxing, is rapidly gaining popularity. You know that is the case when
you see chessboxing on the front page of a leading sports web site, and
as a major story in a number of men's magazines. Check out the ESPN
video footage.

Klitschko checkmates Byrd to win IBF title24.04.2006 – Vladimir Klitschko, the younger
of the world champion heavyweight boxing brothers, took the new International
Boxing Federation title on Friday night, defeating Chris Byrd of the US
by technical knockout in the seventh round. The Klitschkos are great chess
fans and promised their friend Vladimir Kramnik, who was present at the
fight, to attend
his matches.

Chess Champion Talks Boxing01.03.2005 – We have always known that the
two have a lot in common. Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and co., they are so
very close to Lewis, Spinks, De La Hoya, the Klitschkos. Brain and brawn,
the perfect match. An article in the Black Athlete Sports Network confirms
our views. Here's the story and some philosophical musings on chess
and boxing.

Chess and boxing champions10.07.2004 – 77 days to go for the classical
chess world championship between Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko (Sept.
25 to Oct 18 2004 in Brissago). The sponsors, the Swiss tobacco manufacturer
Dannemann, have announced that the boxing champs Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko
will be visiting the match. Press
release.

Chess Boxing: the Tokyo Fight03.05.2004 – Last year Iepe the Joker won the
World Chess Boxing Championship. Now Iepe (29, 1.80m, 74kg) has defended
his title against a Japanese challenger, Soichiro the Cho-Yabai (22, 1.77m,
70kg) in a bout staged at the famous "Time & Style" venue in Tokyo.
Pictorial
report...

See also

3/27/2018 – Sergey Karjkin didn't succeed in posing serious problems for Ding Liren and after, what he called, a "terrible blunder", he had to scramble to save a draw. That left Caruana in great shape to win the tournament. Mamedyarov struggled to find winning chances with black against Kramnik, but in the end that game ended drawn as well. Caruana, needing only a draw, was in command against Grischuk and even won the game to finish in clear first by a full point! | Photo and drawings by World Chess

See also

1/28/2018 – Magnus Carlsen won the 80th Tata Steel Masters which was decided in a blitz tiebreak over Dutch number one Anish Giri. The players contested two blitz games with 5 minutes plus 3 seconds per move, with no sudden death Armageddon game needed. Vidit played solidly to earn a draw that was enough to win the Challengers, as Korobov could not manage to pull off a win with black on-demand. | Photo: Alina l'Ami TataSteelChess.com

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